Table 1 Comparison of 16S rRNA PCR and targeted PCR at a London NHS laboratory network, April 2015 and April 2019.

Targeted PCR				16S PCR
Sample	Number	Positive	Positivity rate (%)	Number	Positive	Positivity rate (%)	Significant difference between molecular modalities (p)
CSF^a	62	8	12.9	149	8	5.4	0.11
Pus^b	18	3	16.7	84	29	34.5	0.23
Tissue/Biopsy^c	49	8	16.3	131	14	10.7	0.44
Joint Fluid^d	40	8	20	157	13	8.3	0.06
Peritoneal Fluid	0	0	n/a	9	2	22.2	n/a
Bronchial Alveolar Lavage^e	6	4	66.7	9	3	33.3	0.46
Pleural Fluid^f	31	9	29.0	45	5	11.1	0.09
Pericardial Fluid^g	4	0	0	12	2	16.7	n/a
Vitreous fluid	0	0	n/a	4	0	0	n/a
Blood culture	0	0	n/a	4	2	50	n/a
Bone Marrow	0	0	n/a	2	0	0	n/a
Urine	0	0	n/a	1	0	0	n/a
Total	210	40	19.0	607	78	12.9	0.04

Abbreviations: Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). Combinations of targeted PCRs sent: CSF^a (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A/B Streptococcal spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria sp., Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp., Brucella sp., Neisseria sp., Mycoplasma sp., Mycobacteria sp., Leptospira sp. Ureaplasma urealyticum, Tropheryma whipplei); Pus^b (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A/B Streptococcal spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Propionibacterium sp., Mycobacterium sp., Actinomyces sp.); Tissue/Biopsy^c (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A/B.); Joint Fluid^d (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A/B Streptococcal spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Kingella kingae, Neisseria sp., Salmonella sp., Mycobacteria sp.); Bronchial Alveolar Lavage^e (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila); Pleural Fluid^f (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A/B Streptococcal spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Mycoplasma sp., Mycobacteria sp., Coxiella burnetti); Pericardial Fluid^g (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Actinomyces sp., Borrelia Burgdorferi).

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